The Not So Final End
by Flamelisthebest
Summary: Maximum Ride is a ghost. She's dead, but that's not gonna stop her from saving the world, with the help of a decendent of the Flock. T for the darkness in chapter 2.
1. Reminiscence

The Not So Final End

Reminiscence

Max's POV (Flashback)

_It was around 8:00 pm, January 2018, and I was flying through the night with the original flock. Zephyr Ride (The Gasman (then sixteen) had the privilege of naming my two year-old son. I have no idea what came over me, but the name stuck) and Alexis Butterfly were both asleep._

_I remember when she was born, Iggy and Nudge (the parents) both wanted Alex to have a last name, but they disagreed on what the name should be. Iggy stood behind the name "Pyro" (what was he thinking?) while Nudge thought the name should be "Butterfly" (honestly, not much better). They were having one of those silly couple fights and Nudge finally suggested that the baby choose her name._

_That settled it for a while, but both made sure to call her by the name they wanted. After about six months, somewhat early, while Nudge was kissing Alexis goodnight, she said "Buberfly" (I think Alex was kind of annoyed by both her parents and just picked one). For two weeks, Nudge danced around singing, somewhat immaturely for a 21 year-old mother, "She picked my name! She picked my name!"_

_Anyway, we were flying through the woods near the E-house (we added new, indescribable defenses) when out of nowhere, we were attacked by Itex robots._

_"Run! Get out of here!" I screamed._

_We took out between 50 and 80, but they had us bagged in 30 seconds._

_Discreetly, I looked towards the house. None of the robots seemed to know it was there, which was good, but I couldn't be sure. There were too many: I couldn't see the ones on the outside._

_Then they pulled a hood over my face. I smelled something sickly sweet and fell asleep in seconds._

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Well, what do you think? Please review. This is my first story, so don't flame me. It gets kind of dark around chapter 2, just push through it and it gets much happier.


	2. Murder

I guess I should have done this before. I don't own Maximum Ride.

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Murder

Max's POV (Flashback)

_I woke up later, I don't know how long after being captured. I took in my surroundings and became confused._

_My entire flock was tied together, on a catwalk, far below ground with people I'd never thought I'd see again. How could I? They were supposed to have died when we destroyed Itex. I guess they weren't dead, because Anne Walker, Marian Jensen, and Roland ter Borscht were standing on the catwalk. In between us was a large vat made of glass or some clear plastic that held a light blue liquid that glowed eerily._

_"At last, we meet for the final time, _Maximum_." The Director said._

_At this, Anne kind of looked down. She didn't seem willing to meet my eyes._

_"Not if I have something to say about it!" I yelled at her._

_"You von't." ter Borscht said happily. He seemed like a little kid about to blow from anticipation. "Zis is the end off you and the rest off your little mutant mistakes. Zere is nofing you can do about it! You are dead!" Despite the finality he was telling me, I couldn't help but think his accent made it sound funnier than it was._

_"Bite me." Fang said sleepily._

_"There is no time for this! We need to terminate them!" The Director said angrily. "Goodbye, Maximum Ride. We've met for the last time."_

_Suddenly, we were pushed from behind into the liquid._

_The liquid burned insanely and I realized it was acid._

_I watched helplessly as the flock died around me._

_Gazzy went first. He was fighting the entire time, but my little trooper started to slow down, and then he stopped completely._

_Iggy went next. It must have been horrifying, feeling the acid eat away at you without being able to see it._

_Nudge, Fang, and Total went simultaneously. I could see the pain in Fang's eyes, as he struggled against the bindings, hoping to save me._

_Angel, the last one left besides me, looked into my eyes, and suddenly I was transported to the E-house._

_At least, in my mind._

_Angel was in her bedroom, making her little nest of clothes and pillows exactly as she did every night._

_For some reason, I had to stop Angel._

_"Angel, what are you doing?" I asked her._

_"I'm making my bed, Max. I have to go." she said sadly._

_"No! You can't go."_

_"Max, it has to happen. It's not like I'm all for it, but I have no choice, I have to go."_

_She was finished making her little nest and was about to sleep, when I asked her "Can you at least hug me before you go?"_

_She smiled. "Sure."_

_We hugged and I refused to let go for even a second._

_"Max, you have to let go."_

_"No."_

_"Max." Angel said sternly._

_"Fine." I pouted._

_Angel dropped into her nest. Her breathing slowed, and then stopped. The illusion began to fade away, until I was alone in the acid._

_I struggled for a little longer, but I was fading fast. Everything went dark, and for a second, I realized I was falling._

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This was the dark chapter, you can keep going.


	3. Runaway Cookie!

Here's the happy part. It's not over though. I don't own MR.

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Runaway Cookie!

Max's POV (Flashback)

_I found myself crouching on the ground, looking at the tank of acid I was floating in, along with my flock. There were so many things wrong with that sentence. Like the fact that my flock was crouching right beside me._

_"Max!" Iggy said excitedly. "I can see!"_

_As you can imagine, I was a little out of it, so all I could say was "Mmmgh."_

_"What?" Iggy asked. "Aren't you happy for me?"_

_As I came to realize what was going on I said "Really? I mean that is so awesome! Hey, can you tell me what's going on? I'm confused. Last I remember I was dieing a horribly painful death in an acid bath."_

_"Um, Max." Nudge said slowly. "We're dead."_

_I was about to argue, when something inside me told me it was true. "Wow, so I'm dead? I always thought ghosts were…less substantial than this." I said, trying to push my hand through the wall behind me._

_The flock laughed quietly around me; even Total seemed to think this was funny. I was confused, I'd meant it literally: but I let it go._

_A new part of what I guessed was me boomed in my head_ Rule number one- _it started._

Hey, I don't think we've met. I'm Maximum Ride: I don't listen to rules very well. _I told the new Voice in my head._

_It started again, this time a little annoyed. _Rule number one: You cannot be seen by the living.

Hey!_ I told it. _I have appointments to keep!

_Now the Voice sounded like me when I'm mad. _Rule 2: You cannot leave until a hole big enough for you to go through is made.

Is that it? _I asked._

_There was no answer._

_"Great." I said aloud. "Did you guys here that?" I asked the Flock. I had to say yes by the laughter they tried unsuccessfully to hide._

Max's POV (present, 2116)

I started laughing crazily, but quietly, as Gazzy, the Phantom Fart, pointed his butt into a rec. room Itex personnel were eating in.

One of them looked up and started sniffing. "Hey Joe, did you fart?" the first guy asked.

The other guy said "No! Why would I fart? Maybe it was Bill."

"What? No way! I haven't eaten beans for six months." Bill defended.

"You know guys; you always blame this on me. How come I _always_ fart, but you and Bob have _never_ farted in your entire lives!"

"Because," Bob said. "We're way cooler than that."

The entire Flock just wanted to crack up at this. Yup, since we died, this is the only way we get our yuks. That and watching people run away from a Scottie that isn't there. What! It's actually pretty funny. Total barks, people scream and run away from a dog that isn't there, everybody wins!

"It wasn't as funny as when you met that cookie." Angel said, trying not to burst into tears as she talked. I tried not to think about that too much.

It was a day after we'd been killed. One of the scientists at Itex had bought a Subway meal, and he got a chocolate chip cookie with it. When he left, I was unable to resist the chocolate goodness he'd left behind, so I tried to eat the cookie.

It didn't go too well. When I brought it to my mouth, the cookie flew away from me. I tried again and again to catch the cookie, chasing it around the room until the scientist came back and stepped on what pieces of dirty cookie were left.

At the thought of this, Iggy, the one who caught me cookie hunting, laughed his guts out. "Oh god that day makes me thankful I can see!" Iggy laughed.

"Shut up! It wasn't that funny!" I yelled.

Iggy looked at me strangley. "Trust me, it was." This started his laughing spree all over again.

I looked at him for a moment and said "Ugh, what am I going to do with you?"

He just looked at me and laughed.

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Please tell me what you think, though I'm just glad I have readers.


	4. Technical Sergeant Butterfly

Technical Sergeant Butterfly

Max's POV

Fang and I were laughing (If you can believe that) as the rest of the Flock chased Total around. It was around 12:00 am, but when you're dead, you don't need to worry about sleep.

Iggy came up to us and leaned against the wall. "This is kind of nice. Sadly, death without peace is the only real peace we've had."

"Wow Iggy." I said. "I never knew you were that deep."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Iggy paused for a moment. "Hey, do you hear that? Kind of a ticking, you know?"

Fang and I pressed our ears to the stone wall. Sure enough, there was a ticking noise, and I had a feeling I knew what it was attached to.

"Everyone hide!" I whispered.

In seconds, the timer rang, and the bomb went off.

When the dust cleared, I noticed two things that had changed. The first was that there was a hole (big enough to easily walk through, I remind you) and there was a 14 year old boy standing just inside the wall.

He was around six feet tall, probably a bird kid, maybe 14 to 15 years old. He had brown eyes, dark skin, and black hair. He was wearing a camouflaged uniform, kind of a jacket, a pair of long pants, boots the pants were tucked into, and he had a square cap that matched the rest of his uniform. On his collar, were two insignia that showed a triangle with wings inside them. They were backed by five bent stripes, which obviously signified his rank. He scoped out the darkened courtyard, watching every direction for resistance.

Nudge had a weird expression on her face. She seemed mesmerized and nostalgic. She watched the boy intently, slowly stepping out of cover to get a look at him.

I yanked her down, but it was too late: the kid had seen her.

The bird kid started towards our hiding place. _Crapcrapcrap!_ I thought. _What do we do?_ If we move, he'd hear us. But if we didn't well, who knows what would happen.

The decision was made for me by that inner-self that told me I was dead and the rules I had. It told me, _It's alright, he's the only living person allowed to see you._ _Swell. _I thought. _I still don't know if I can trust him. _It answered, _You can._ It wasn't like I had a choice; he was already there by the time my insane conversation was done.

"Guys, come with me." He said. I'll get you out of here safe. Just go 'bout a mile into the woods south of here."

"How will you get us out, and what are you doing here anyways?" I questioned.

"I have a boat docked in Italy. And I'm-" he started when he was interrupted by me.

"Italy! ITALY! What were you thinking? Couldn't you have parked it closer?"

"No. Italy is closer than the northern edge of Germany. I'm here to free some prisoners of war that were taken."

"Oh." I said sadly. "They were tortured and killed not long after they arrived."

"Oh. Well then, come with me. Do you have any possessions to worry about?"

"No, but can you do something for me?"

"Sure."

"'Bout five floors down, there's a big vat of acid, it's made of glass. I need you to destroy it."

"Sure but what for?"

"Can you just please, do it for us? It'd be really helpful."

He seemed nervous now; he was going over the possibilities.

"Let me just confirm it with my superiors first." he answered.

I waited while he pulled out a cell phone. He jabbered for a moment, closed the cell phone, and said "I'm on it."

You may have noticed that I was very patient and mature. That's what 98 years of solid boredom does to you.

He started to walk to a side entrance and we followed. "Hey!" the kid said. "Where are you guys going? It's too dangerous in there, I can't risk you guys!"

"Oh, well we'll just be going. By the way, what's your name?" I asked.

He straightened his posture and said "I'm Technical Sergeant Butterfly. But you can call me Andy."

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Yay! I have reviews! Thank you people! Thank you Avian.American, O Wingless One, and FlamingFlie! I liked what you had to say.


	5. Omega II

Omega II

Max's POV

When Nudge heard "Andy's" last name, she had that motherly "I'm so proud" look in her eyes. Iggy had his own grin, but I think he just liked the bomb Andy had used.

And I was fighting between two choices. I could tell Nudge and Iggy that I was glad for them…or I could roll on the ground laughing at the way the name Nudge picked sounded right after the important-sounding title.

I decided I'd laugh at it later.

Andy once again, took off for the door, and we followed him, but more stealthily this time.

We made it to the acid tank quickly. I felt an unwelcome blast of hatred for Itex as I looked at the liquid that contained the last molecules of our physical selves. I watched as Andy started to look for something in his bag, when he paused and cast an annoyed glance around the cavernous room.

"Hey." he said. "I told you guys to wait for me _away_ from the castle. That way you guys don't risk being crushed by partially-dissolved pieces of Itex."

"Not gonna happen." Nudge said protectively.

Andy sighed. "Can you _at least_ stay close to the door?"

"Sure." I said.

Everyone in the flock slowly made their way towards the door, while Andy bided his time pulling a bomb free of other assorted junk in his backpack. Once he saw we were as far away from the blast as possible, he placed the bomb on the glass, set the timer, and yelled "Run!"

We blasted down hallways and up stairs, mostly just to keep up with Andy. It wasn't like we _needed_ to get out of there, but he did, so we followed. After a minute or so, we ran out the door, through the hole in the wall, and flew into the sky. A couple of seconds later, we heard a big _BOOM_.

"Huh," Iggy said. "Not a lot to see. I'd barely give that a 2."

"Hey, it wasn't a high power bomb; it just needed to break the glass." Andy said. "In a couple of minutes, the castle above it should collapse."

Already, the ground above the acid seemed less stable than before. Soon the nearby castle walls started to flake off, fragment, or just fall to pieces. Once it was done, somewhere between an eighth and a quarter of the castle had crumbled.

"Sweet!" Iggy yelled.

"Awwwesome." Gazzy said.

"Guys, let's keep going, before the catch up with us." Andy said. We all started to fly southward.

It was a surprisingly short trip, uneventful except for the old, burnt-out cities we passed. Eventually, we came to an old city on the northwestern coast of Italy. Andy called it Genova.

We came to a harbor that in earlier times would have been packed with ships. Now, only a couple of boats containing the bodies of the unlucky people who didn't escape remained (from what, I don't know), only parts of them still above water.

"So, which one is yours?" Angel asked.

"That one down there." Andy answered, pointing to what I'd call a mid-size boat with a gun-turret on top.

"They let you have a gun?" I asked incredulously.

"Only 'cause this is deep Itex territory. That and they couldn't get it off the boat."

"But why have guns at all?" I asked.

"Because the other guys have guns too. We could beat Omega IIs hand to hand easy. But from what I've heard, going hand to gun isn't a smart idea." Andy explained.

"Oh." I said. I didn't like it one bit, but he had a point. But there was something out of place.

"What are Omega IIs?" Angel asked before I could.

"You know Maximum Ride's opponent in Itex contest around 100 years ago? That was Omega. Omega II is the next version. 2 times better than Omega was." Andy explained for us.

We landed on the boat while Andy continued his explanation.

"The By-Half Plan was the prelude to the Re-Evolution. The plan was basically 'get rid of everyone we don't want or need.' Once that was done, the people who were left would teach the new people, Omegas, what they needed to know to survive. The Omegas would kill everyone who was left once they had all the knowledge they needed to save the world. But Max beat Omega, so Itex needed to get a better genetic model, a.k.a Omega II."

Okay, so now it made sense. The burnt-out cities, the abandoned countries, the unused harbors…It was what was left over from the people who were killed.

Andy started the boat, and eased us out of the harbor. Once we were clear, the boat rocketed forward, and we shot off towards who knows where.


End file.
